Category: Comic Books

Stapp’s Straps

Jack Kirby was born on this day in 1917. The late-50’s comic strip Sky Masters of the Space Force was superbly illustrated by Jack, with perfectly complementary inking by Wally Wood. Note: Kirby/Wood refers to writer Dave Wood, not the unrelated Wally.

The last panel in that strip reminds me of the famous rocket sled tests performed by Dr. John Stapp.

John Stapp (1910-1999)

Stapp’s groundbreaking Air Force work, testing the limits of human endurance under extreme conditions, was nothing like the ghoulishly criminal experiments conducted by the Nazis. Stapp was entirely practical in considering the effects of supersonic flight on pilots, and his data was invaluable when the manned space program began. The 3-point lap belt for cars came from Stapp’s research. The PBS series American Experience profiled Stapp in its “Space Men” documentary.

Spaaaaaaaaaaaace Forrrrrrrrrrce!
Art by Jack Kirby and Wally Wood
Color Guide, watercolor on photostat of original art

Superman of Miami

Every so often I like to watch all seventeen of the remarkable Fleischer/Famous Superman cartoons from 1941-1943. Considering the Fleischer studio was originally based in New York, it’s somewhat ironic that all the animation showing Superman leaping, and then flying, around Metropolis was produced in Florida.

The official DC release is the only DVD set currently available that’s worth getting.

https://www.amazon.com/Superman-Fleischer-Clayton-Bud-Collyer/dp/B001OD8E4G/

I’ll include a few screen shots from the DC set, along with the first two cartoons from the DVD. They were upscaled and cleaned up by somebody using an AI video process.

https://youtu.be/LUFN1IjK4ww

https://youtu.be/Asc6329mx70

Palmer Art

Tom Palmer was as much a commercial artist and painter as he was a comic book inker. Here are a few examples.

I love these hard-boiled, cheesy magazine covers.

From short-lived Skywald Publishing, where Sol Brodsky continued in the tradition of his old Magazine Management boss, Martin Goodman.

From Marvel in 1978, this is the cover to the second comic book telling of the Beatles story. Joe Sinnott illustrated the first one, in 1964.

The Silver Age Slips Away

Another old comic book pro, Tom Palmer, has passed away. There aren’t too many names left from the 60’s. Palmer arrived to the business later in the decade, earning immediate recognition, especially for his inking on Neal Adams’ run on X-Men. Those issues are among my most all-time favorite comic books.

https://www.cbr.com/tom-palmer-avengers-xmen-tomb-dracula-obituary/

The Uncanny X-Men #58 p. 1
The Uncanny X-Men #59 p. 6
The Uncanny X-Men #59 p. 18
The Uncanny X-Men #60 p. 16
The Uncanny X-Men #61 p. 7

The Other Harvey Witch

Following up on yesterday’s post about Sid Jacobson, I wasn’t certain if he edited Harvey’s horror comic books in the 50’s. His family confirms it in this remembrance of their late father.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/sidney-jacobson-obituary?id=35995758

This is Wendy the Witch that the Harvey comic books were based on. Wendy enacts a scene from The Red Shoes.

Wendy was quite a change from the Harvey witch comics Jacobson worked on in the 50’s.

Not Peter Pan’s Friend, Not the Song, Not the Square Burger

DC and Marvel weren’t the only comics I enjoyed reading and collecting as a kid. Dennis the Menace from Fawcett, the original publisher of Captain Marvel, was a favorite. Harvey had the Casper line of characters.

Harvey’s titles included Richie Rich and Wendy the Good Little Witch. If it’s possible to have a crush on a cartoon character, Wendy was my age-appropriate alternative to Elizabeth Montgomery in Bewitched.

Sid Jacobson was the editor and writer behind many if not most of those comic books. Thanks in part to a graphic novel he wrote about 9/11, Jacobson has an obituary in The New York Times.


https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/06/arts/sid-jacobson-dead.html

Mark Evanier has these thoughts about Jacobson.

Sid Jacobson, R.I.P.